The Thoughts of a Conservative mind.

In the wake of the Marathon bombings, Middlesex County began to probe a link between the elder Tsarnaev and Brendan Mess, one of the three men killed in the gruesome slaying on Sept. 11, 2011.

Officials said Mess and two men were found in a Waltham residence with their throats slit and their bodies covered with marijuana. Tamerlan and Mess were once roommates and did boxing and martial arts training together.Now law enforcement officials tell ABC News that some crime scene forensic evidence provided a match to the two Tsarnaev brothers.

Here is just one more thing that seems to tie these two to terrorism, but I will bet that the MSM will gloss over it just like they have been with Benghazi.

There are so many things that could be discussed regarding all of this. Here are just some things that pop forefront to my mind:

1). Is Congress going to investigate the misuses of taxpayer dollars? This money was meant to help the victims of Sandy not as a slush fund to try to con businesses into relocating to NY.

2). Gov Cuomo should get a clue. Businesses are leaving NY not due to Sandy; instead it is due to the confiscatory tax policies and the over burden business regulations of the NY (both State and City government).

3). This is why Conservatives believe that you should not rely on the government to “fix” problems such as the aftermath of a natural disaster. We saw this in the fraud, waste and abuse after Katrina (i.e. the prepaid visa cards being used at strip clubs or the FEMA trailers sitting empty and rusting away) and now we are seeing it in the continued aftermath of Sandy. Private charities are far more efficient in these situations (just look at Boston 1 fund as an example) and the American people are a generous people whom are willing to help out their fellow Americans.

Of course if you listened to President Obama then you ought to just dismiss me as one of those voices you should dismiss and just trust the government to do what’s best. I’m sure the victims of Sandy would agree with that sentiment wholeheartedly right about now…./sarc

The Washington Times is reporting that the chief of the FAA has testified to Congress that the airports around D.C. will not be hit with the furloughs that are causing delays around the rest of the nation. So us average peons will deal with delays, causing us to miss connecting flights are elected officials will be whisked out of D.C. with minimal delays.

With any luck they will be hit with the delays on the way back. Not only will this help them to actually see the pain the average American has to deal with, it will keep them from voting on more garbage (like the Gang of Ocho’s amnesty package).

Of course this is all part of dear leaders plans to make us all feel the pain of the evil sequestration (cue creepy music). But, after a summer of the public dealing with delays and screwed up vacations we will be “blessed” by the seeing images of dear leader and his entourage departing Air Force one to begin his vacation at Martha’s Vineyard.

I wish this was a joke, but it isn’t. One county in Maryland (Howard county) is planning on charging land owners what amounts to a tax on rain:

Howard County Council voted to approve legislation creating a state-mandated stormwater fee to fund stormwater restoration projects. The average residential property owner will be charged about $105, according to county officials, but the fees are expected to be lower for most residential property owners in the east part of the county and higher than $105 for most in the west.

The county administration had proposed charging property owners $7.80 for every 500 square feet of impervious surface in the first year with the fee escalating to more the $20 in subsequent years.

Impervious surfaces include paved driveways and rooftops. The county’s Geographic Information Services will determine the amount of impervious surface for each property.

Council member Calvin Ball’s amendment set the fee at $15 per 500 square feet of impervious surface for three years.

The council voted 3-2 to set the fee at $15 for the next three years. Fox and Courtney Watson, a Democrat, voted against the rate. They wanted the fee increases to be phased in.

With the $15 rate, a residential property owner with 2,000 square feet of impervious surface will pay $75 a year. A residential property owner with 7,000 square feet of impervious surface can expect to pay $210 a year.

Ball said his amendment stabilized fee and prevents it from doubling or tripling in future years.“If they [residents] don’t know about this fee, learning about the fee and then [having] it potentially tripling the next year would be disconcerting,” he said.

The fee will rise in the fourth and fifth years, according to Caldwell.

This is something to watch out for in other states as once one state starts the ball rolling you can bet others will jump on board. I live in the Pacific North West and with the amount of annual rainfall we get I could very easily see the politicians looking at this as a windfall revenue source by changing it from size of the impervious surface to how much rain water is diverted by the impervious surfaces (based on the daily rainfall total for the location). They would love this one as rain is out of the control of the individual (unlike gasoline taxes). At this rate it will not be long till we are all charged a breathing tax.

On Friday, President Obama told the greatest April Fool’s joke in history. Here it is:

“I call upon all Americans to observe this month with programs and activities to improve their understanding of financial principles and practices,” Obama said in an official proclamation released Friday.

“My Administration is dedicated to helping people make sound decisions in the marketplace,” he said.

“Together, we can prepare young people to tackle financial challenges–from learning how to budget responsibly to saving for college, starting a business, or opening a retirement account,” he said.

Even though there is no money for WH tours and claims that this administration will have to shut down air traffic control towers and furlough meat inspectors their turns out to be plenty of money to send the Obama daughters and their Secret Service contingent to the Atlantis resort. I ran a quick price check for a family of four going from DC to the resort for a week. using the lowest cost options for the dining plan, airfare, airport transfers and room the trip would cost $6032.75 and that is without any of the extras. The price only goes up from there.

Here is my recommendation to everyone out there who is royally ticked off that our tax dollar are being spent this way while we are being told that we, the average American citizen, can expect longer lines at the airports (if we can even afford to go on vacation) and less safe food. Contact your Representative in the House and demand that they use the power of the purse to cut the tax dollars (your money) used by the President and his family for trips like this, golf outings and the lavish superstar WH parties. After all isn’t it high time the President feel the same pain that he expects all of us to feel? Isn’t it high time he make a “shared sacrifice” that he expects all of us to make? Let’s get our Representatives to act and put this up to an on the record vote.

The Daily Mail has an article today in which fans have decided to replace the “evil guns” that so many celebrities say should be banned with something a bit more positive. Now just imagine what these movies/tv shows would be like with these new found weapons….

Today the Senate Democrats voted against an amendment that would stop the USDA from advertising US food stamp programs in Mexico (h/t Daily Caller):

During the Senate budget committee’s Thursday markup of the Senate budget resolution, Democrats prevented an effort to block funds for the Agriculture Department’s “partnership” with the Mexican government, which is aimed at promoting nutrition assistance programs among Mexican Americans, Mexican nationals and migrant communities in America.

In a party-line 12 to 10 vote, the Democrats on the committee rejected a proposal to prevent funding for such endeavors from ranking member Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, who has spoken out against the program in recent months.

“Contrary to sound policy, the United States is spending money advertising food stamp benefits in foreign consulates,” Session’s staff said in a Thursday evening press release. “This amendment would prohibit any funds from being spent on this controversial promotion campaign.”

I guess we see that promoting the welfare state at all costs is more important than actually cutting the budget. We could even go as far as pull a play from the Dem handbook and point out that they are choosing to advertise in Mexico over allowing school kids to tour the White House.

In a stunning statement to a group of donors at an Organizing for Action event, dear leader said the following (h/t Daily Caller):

“If you have a senator or a congressman in a swing district who is prepared to take a tough vote … on immigration reform, or legislation around background checks for guns, I want to make sure that they feel supported and that they know that there are constituencies of theirs who agree with them, even if they may be getting a lot of pushback in that district,” he declared to the roughly 70 attending donors who are fueling his unprecedented group, dubbed Organizing For Action.

Translation: Give me money so I can try to help re-elect politicians who are willing to disregard the will of their constituents. So much for representative government.

I do have another question, how many of the donors made the $500,000 club?

A local D.C. television took on the WH over the $277,000 spent annually to keep calligrapher on staff. How did they do this? Simple, they used technology:

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WUSA9) — Can you tell the difference between White House invitations crafted by a quarter-million dollar calligraphy staff and the fake one we made using our station computer and printer for pocket change?